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Urban Growth Boundaries
Urban Growth Boundaries (UGB) An urban growth boundary is a tool use by the government to create and maintain a high density infrastructure within a defined zoning limit. Not only does this create high density infrastructure within the limits is protects the surrounding area from urban sprawl, contributes to the protection of forest, wetlands, wildlife habitats, and farming outside the boundary, and promotes the use of the city's transit systems within the UGB. In other words in encourages the creation of compact towns or cities with all the advantages of transit oriented development (TOD), while keeping the human scale in mindThe Effects of Portland’s Urban Growth Boundary on Urban Development Patterns and Commuting (Myung-Jin Jun) The creation of these UGB starts with the creation and/or implementation of zoning laws that can be reversed, by land purchases that are irreversible, or conservation laws and regulations that only can be change through political processing. Creating the UGB forces towns and cities to maintain a certain supply of commercial, industrial, and residential land inside the UGB over a certain period of time decided upon usually when the UGB is originally purposed. Creating this so called "pressure" the city will then start building from the core out with TOD in mind. Like TOD there are social, economic, and environmental aspects of creating urban growth boundaries and some examples are: Social Socially urban growth boundaries creates a balance within your zoning limits of jobs and housing. The housing in your UGB will need to be diverse in the aspect that there will need to be a balance between low and high density homes and pricing of homes should be maintained. This offers opportunities for low, middle, and high class citizens to be balanced amongst each other in the boundary. The creation of human scale redevelopment will follow the UGD plan and will have lots a aesthetics within the area where people are more likely to socialize with their community. In the human scale communities personal vehicles are not widely used thus walking, biking, or rollerblading are used more which leads to a healthier community overall with the increase in recreational activity. 'Economic ' Economically UGB creates diverse local economies where there are mixed land uses throughout the local area. This will develop areas where the human scale is taken into account. Areas that are developed with human scale have more economic activity in them where citizens are spending more time in the shops as they are more socially active in the community. There is decreased spending on the development/maintenance of major highways because the communities will be developed towards the transit system. Recreational activities will also increase therefore decrease healthcare costs in general. The UGB also protect farming communities outside the cities to be maintained increasing their yields to be exported. 'Environmental ' Urban growth boundaries protects the wild lands in the surrounding area by not allowing development on the areas. Along with the newly from TOD plan within the UGB it opens up, what was before impermeable boundaries, for the natural flow of rain water. Keeping the rain water off busy streets, where there are many different contaminates, protects the rivers in stream in the city as these contaminates flow directly into them. Human scale communities can also develop green buildings that use solar power and heating or other forms of renewable energy. Finally the decrease in person modes of transpiration with decrease the energy use per person, and air emissions.